Fire destroys building, equipment at Frankfort pallet company

Livengood Pallets on Indiana 28 about a mile west of I-65 caught fire Tuesday night. A building and equipment used to recycle the pallets were destroyed in the blaze.(Photo: Ron Wilkins/Journal & Courier)

FRANKFORT, Ind. — Jerry Livengood lounged on his couch under a blanket Wednesday morning, his face and clothes blackened by soot from a fire at his pallet company just two doors east of his home.

He looked tired, explaining this was his first chance to rest in more than 24 hours. It also was the first time he'd been warm in hours.

Livengood started work at 7 a.m. Tuesday and put in a full day before heading home just yards away from his business at Indiana 28 and Clinton County Road 900 West. He settled into his evening routine when the fire broke out next door.

"We were sitting here watching TV, and we hear a couple of pops," he said as his wife, Anne, sat in a nearby recliner. "She looked out the front door and couldn’t really see nothing. Then went and looked out the back. It was ablaze.”

"I looked out the back door," Anne said, "and it was already all engulfed by the time we called the fire department."

Charred metal walls clanked and rattled in the wind Wednesday at Livengood Pallet Co. at Indiana 28 and Clinton County Road 900 West. A fire Tuesday night destroyed the building that stood here before the blaze.(Photo: Ron Wilkins/Journal & Courier)

Livengood estimated four fire departments responded to the fire, which was reported about 7 p.m. Livengood's company is about a mile east of the larger Fibertech Premium Mulch by Industrial Pallet Corp., at Indiana 28 and U.S. 52.

The blaze at Livengood's company gave the night sky an orange glow that could be seen from miles way, according to one man who noticed the fire while working Tuesday at a restaurant more than a mile from the fire.

No one showed up for work Wednesday morning at Livengood's site, but they did stop by his home to check on him.

At the site, the remains of a sheet-metal wall — broken and slit — clanked and rattled as the wind blew it against charred equipment. A few curious motorists slowed as they drove past the site.

"We're going to rebuilt," Livengood said as he inventoried some of his loss aloud.

Semis and trailers for Livengood Pallet Co. survived the Tuesday night blaze that destroyed a building and other equipment on the site. Firefighters also succeeded at keeping the flames from most of the pallets.(Photo: Ron Wilkins/Journal & Courier)

A 40-by-150-foot building, pallet-recycling equipment inside the building, two fork lifts, and lumber — lots of lumber, he said, estimating his loss between $400,000 and $500,000.

He's not insured.

Anne complimented the firefighters on their skill. They kept the fire from burning the stacks of pallets outside of the building, which is a feat considering the head start the blaze had on the crews.

“It was gone before they got here,” Jerry said of his loss of the building.

The Journal & Courier attempted to contact officers from several of the responding fire departments for details about the blaze, but many of the departments are volunteer departments and officers were not available.

Frankfort Fire Department said its crews responded but the fire was not its jurisdiction and referred the J&C to other agencies.

Asked how the fire started, Jerry isn't sure. There isn't an investigation, per se, since he isn't insured, he said.

“They brought in an excavator in and destroyed everything,” he said of the investigation in the dark hours of early Wednesday.

The business' equipment was shut off and everyone had gone home for the day, so no one was supposed to be on the site.

“There was a wood stove in there, but that was the last place to burn. It was on the south side of the building,” Jerry said.

The cold north winds pushed the flames from the north side of the building to the south, so the stove likely was not the cause, he explained, guessing it must have been electrical.

Jerry and Anne's friends who had stopped in to check on them excused themselves, and the Livengoods planned how to rebuild — after Jerry rested.